Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mount flange for mounting a cutting blade on a spindle as a rotating shaft.
Description of the Related Art
A cutting apparatus is used to process a platelike workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer and a resin substrate, wherein the cutting apparatus includes a spindle as a rotating shaft and a disk-shaped cutting blade mounted on the spindle. The cutting blade is mounted on the spindle through a mounting tool called mount flange. The cutting blade is replaced when it is worn to some extent.
Usually, the replacement of the cutting blade is manually performed by an operator. In performing this operation, various tools are used so as not to cause damage to various mechanisms, the mount flange, the cutting blade, etc. in the cutting apparatus. Accordingly, not only a skilled operator, but also some degree of operation time is required for the replacement of the cutting blade.
In contrast thereto, there has recently been proposed a mounting mechanism for fixing a cutting blade to a mount flange under suction by producing a vacuum in the vicinity of a mounting surface of the mount flange against which the cutting blade comes into abutment (see Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2002-154054, for example). By using this mounting mechanism, the cutting blade can be replaced more simply in shorter time as compared with the prior art.